But a closer look at the forecast shows that plenty of analysts anticipate job losses: Goldman Sachs (GS) expects a drop of 250,000, while research consultancy Capital Economics and Jefferies (JEF) predict a loss of 200,000 positions.On Wednesday, the ADP Employment Report, which tracks private payrolls, showed an unexpected drop of 301,000 jobs last month. Although the ADP and government reports aren’t correlated, it is adding to the worry about what Friday’s tally might look like.
Omicron’s bad timing
The Omicron surge began in December. But the full fallout will probably become visible in the economic data for the start of 2022.
The December jobs report showed the US economy added 199,000 jobs, but that was based on surveys conducted before the Omicron wave gathered pace. That’s why economists predict January will look worse.
“It turns out that the peak of Omicron cases coincided with when the [January] data for the payroll survey…
